Civilizing the Frontier—The Porters
Norman Rozeff, HHPS, April 2008
The fog of time has dimmed the memory of two individuals who played a part in Brownsville history and, more significantly, that of our country. Their spiritual nature somehow drew them together in a convergent path. They were the Rev. Jeremiah Porter and his wife, Eliza Emily Chappell Porter.
Jeremiah Porter was born in Hadley, Massachusetts on December 27, 1804. He was educated at Hopkins Academy and William College, being graduated from the latter in 1825. He entered Andover Theological Seminary but dropped out after two years to head a high school in Troy, NY. Porter entered the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1830 and completed his studies there by 1831 after which he was ordained, at the request of the American Home Missionary Society, a Missionary Evangelist.
He then embarked on a lifetime of experiences that would take him to America's frontier areas, the first being at Fort Brady, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Territory. On June 26, 1833 he founded the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago. It was to be the city's oldest religious society and pre-dated the city's incorporation on August 10, 1833. In an ecumenical spirit he offered the facility for use by the newly organized Episcopal and Baptist parishes of that city.
In 1835 he would move on to Peoria, IL then Farmington, Fulton County, and in 1840 to Green Bay, Wisconsin where he remained for 18 years before once again returning to Chicago.
It was on June 15, 1835 that he married Eliza Chappell in Rochester, NY. Born November 5, 1807 in Geneseo, NY, she had grown up in New York State. A Presbyterian from age 14, she had in 1828 participated as a children's worker in a revival of famed evangelist, the Rev. Charles G. Finney. Though her own education was sketchy she began teaching at age 16. Her goal was to bring religious orientated instruction to young children of the poor. She patterned her teaching on the Pestalozzian movement wherein students were encouraged to observe all aspects of life around them and learn to properly reason. Her activities would also carry her to the frontier, this being to Mackinac, Michigan where among others she taught local Indian "half-breeds." Later she would operate a school in Fort Dearborn and, moving on to Chicago, enroll young women from outlying districts to train them as teachers. Here she met her future husband when he offered his new church to house her school. They had known one another in Mackinac. The Porters were to have nine children, six of whom survived infancy.
It was the Civil War that was to test their mettle. The Federal Government was poorly organized in its treatment of Union military wounded and sick. Once this was recognized private individuals and organizations came forward to fill the need for care and rehabilitation. In October 1861 Eliza became "directress" or office manager of the Chicago (later Northwestern) Sanitary Commission. This agency solicited contributions of food, medical dressing, and other supplies for use in military hospitals at the front.
After the Battle of Shiloh in early April 1862 Mrs. Porter recognized that she would be more useful in the field. With her husband, who had by then volunteered as an army chaplain with the 1st Illinois Light Artillery Regiment, she went to Cairo, IL escorting Chicago volunteers for hospital duty. Soon she moved on to Mound City where hospital ships were bringing the wounded to local hospitals. Upon assessing the situation she returned to Chicago to recruit additional volunteer nurses. These she escorted to Savannah, TN where army field hospitals had been established. From here she moved on to Memphis where her husband had been assigned as chaplain at the Fort Pickering convalescent home. In Memphis she established a school among the city's large population of Black refugees.
In July 1863 she went back to Chicago to act as temporary director of the Sanitary Commission. Rev. Porter was to enter Vicksburg July 6, 1863 and help to bury the dead found in the hospitals there. In October of that year Mrs. Porter was to travel south to Corinth and Vicksburg, Mississippi to deliver Commission supplies. The winter of 1864 saw her in a field hospital near Chattanooga, TN. Here soldiers from the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge were being treated. These would be joined by Gen. Sherman's soldiers, casualties on his army's march to Atlanta. "Resourceful and indefatigable" she and Mary Ann Bickerdyke directed all manner of volunteer field hospital work such as cooking, laundering, distributing relief supplies, and, in emergencies, nursing the wounded.
The Porter's own son, James, participated in the battle at Resaca, GA at which place the two women leaders rendered aid to the wounded awaiting transfer to field hospitals. Mrs. Porter composed graphic letters of the situations in the field to heighten public awareness of the commission's work. The United States Sanitary Commission in New York published these in its bulletin.
Seemingly always on the move, the Porters singly or together were to be in Little Rock, AK, Savannah, GA shortly after its capture, Washington, DC after Lee's surrender, and then Louisville, KY with Gen. Logan's army until July 31, 1865, and finally Alabama.
It was in October 1865 that the Porters came to Texas. He accompanied troops sent to the area ostensibly "to protect our border from aggressions of France under Emperor Maximilian." Mrs. Porter at the same time came to South Texas with supplies from the Northwest Sanitary Commission (also part of the United States Christian Commission). She visited army hospitals in Brownsville and on Brazos Island. Her visit to Brownsville allowed her to revive the Rio Grande Seminary, a Presbyterian coeducational school that had lapsed operations during the Union siege.
The Porters were to return to Brownsville in 1868 when he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church of the city. Mrs. Porter together with the Grant sisters of Chicago took charge of the Rio Grande Seminary. It was in 1870 that the Rev. Porter was appointed by the United States Senate as Post Chaplain, U.S.A. at Fort Brown. He was to remain there in that capacity until 1873 when military transfers would take them first to Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory and in 1875 to Fort Russell, Wyoming Territory. Mrs. Porter assisted her husband in his religious labors and conducted schools for children in the vicinities of the forts. He was retired by Act of Congress, June 30, 1882.
Upon retirement they spent summers with their children in Wisconsin and Michigan and wintered in Florida, Texas, and California.
Eliza Porter died of pneumonia in Santa Barbara, CA, New Year's Day 1888 at age 80. She was buried in Chicago.
Jeremiah Porter quietly passed away at the home of his daughter at Beloit, WI. He died July 25, 1893 at age ninety. He was eulogized at the Beloit College.
The Porters with their social awareness instituted community and charitable efforts which were undoubtedly ahead of their time. Their lives were adventurous but more importantly fruitful and successful. If Brownsville has forgotten the Porters, they should now be remembered and revered for their activities in the fledgling city. They obviously instilled a sense of dedication to humanity in their children, for two became ministers and two went as missionaries to China.